About me – Nina Davis: Australian Educator on the IB-PYP Journey & the teacher who loves to ski!

I’m an experienced educator, and have taught every year level of primary education in Australia (a number of times). I consider myself a constructivist. Someone asked me if I had a favourite year level, and my answer is always, that I love teaching the group of children in front of me. Every age has its own challenges and rewards.

I have welcomed numerous teachers into my classroom, trialled resources, and presented to various forums. I believe educators must remain informed about current teaching and learning pedagogy to grow professionally, and for our students. Education is ‘action research’. Trialling new ideas, seeking ‘best practice’ and being on a constant ‘learning curve’ is essential for an educator.

My students know I reflect on my teaching to improve my practise, and I encourage them to tell me their ideas and reflect on their learning. My blog is where I share my reflections. I started this blog as part of my Web 2.0 Professional Development, under the guidance and mentorship of Jenny Luca. To the many who know Jenny, you’ll know how fortunate I’ve been.

I’m always delighted to receive comments, and have collaborated with, and made many wonderful connections with educators locally, across Australia and globally. My blog is primarily for educators, contains no photos of children, or my school’s name. I originally had the name of my school recorded, but received too many enrolment queries, and that was never the intention of this space.

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36 responses to “About me – Nina Davis: Australian Educator on the IB-PYP Journey & the teacher who loves to ski!”

I have followed your blog for a few years now and love it! Especially the Australian holidays and special dates that are so hard to find resources for! Do you have any tips for selection criteria and applying for permanent positions? It is very hard to showcase all your abilities when you are a new teacher (although I am trying to be involved in more to improve this!)

With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced
but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization.
Do you know any techniques to help stop content from being stolen?
I’d genuinely appreciate it.

Hi,
I have a Creative Commons Attribution License on my blog. As long as people recognise the source they can use my material. I am contacted by educators who wish to use photos or my writing for presentations and I always say yes. It comes down to the purpose of why you write. Have a look at Creative Commons but I’m not sure you can stop people using your material.
Cheers Nina

My name is Chandan, I work with MapsofWorld.com. I was reading your blog
posts, and thought about sharing our recent Infographic.

The Infographic is titled ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid’, it explores the
facts and stats about Google and how it has become dominant in the lives of
students. It would be wonderful if you find it useful to share with the
students community.

Hi Nina, I’m Bea and I’m from to Valencia (Spain). I’m a primary teacher and I learn english because in Spain is very important for to work in school. i’m sorry if I have mistakes in my sentences. I love your blog because I can to learn about your education system.
A cordial salutation.
BEA

Just discovered your blog, as I sit here Saturday morning blog-prowling. I am from Sunny Qld, and well into the year with the new Curriculum. Whilst I started my own blog a few months back, I am wanting to hone in on my C2C journey so far…off to have a peek around your blog…Judith

Hi Nina,
I just wanted to share, that thanks to your blog I have just had an ‘aha’ moment.. I too am a teacher – Reception (prep) in a PYP candidate school in SA – and the PYP coordinator at my school is always encouraging us to reflect on our practice. While I do understand how beneficial this is, (I mean, we make our students reflect all the time!).. I never seemed to be able to find the time! Also, the thought of hand-writing some scribbled notes, or typing up a boring document in word just seemed so uninteresting. So I happened upon your blog (thanks google!) and realised.. I COULD blog too! What an easy way to record and organise my thoughts!
I am finding that this year
So now I am off to start a blog (and find some clear counters to use as spacers with my Receptions, cool idea!), in the hope that the initial novelty of blogging might become ‘my way’ of journalling effectively. Thanks a bunch :)

Hi Amy,
Thanks for leaving a comment. A new blog… send me a link when you’ve started and I’ll give you support from my end. Personally, I’ll really enjoy reading your reflections and I know others will too. Keep me in the loop!
Cheers Nina

I came across your blog after searching for other educational bloggers of a similar theme. My blog focuses more on the middle years and secondary education with a distinct twist towards English and ICT and I’m interested in exchanging links with your blog.

Hi Sophie,
Nice to see you here and thank you for your lovely comment. This is my little reflection space and I don’t promote it in the community. But every now and again I get a comment like yours. And I was fortunate to teach your lovely daughter.
Cheers Nina

Hi Alisia,
And thank you, for the great feedback. I started this blog for many reasons, and one was to reflect upon and share my practise. I’m always trying to improve my craft and the day I think I can’t do something better, is the day I should change jobs. We owe it to ourselves, and our students to keep improving what we do. There are many wonderful educators sharing what they do on the web. And thank you for commenting. It’s always appreciated!
Cheers Nina

Well hello Old Man!
As a retired Monash Uni lecturer of some standing, I appreciate your comment on an educational level and I’m glad you visited!
The fact that you are so computer literate also impresses me. I know my grammar and spelling may be a little ‘off’, but you’d probably be the only one to pick up on some of these.
It’s my turn to ring tonight. Keep visiting dad!
love Ninax

Hi Mari,
Thanks for the comment. My father was a lecturer for many years, and has kept up with technology. I couldn’t imagine life without the internet. I was so pleased when he found my space and left a comment. And I love the fact that he called himself ‘old man’. I knew who it was instantly!
Cheers Nina

Hi Nina,
Very impressive site! It’s a shame that the gardener doesn’t spruce up the grounds..that dead grass is very disappointing. Great to see that your educational ideas are spreading throughout the world..

Nina – go to http://loisath.edublogs.org/about/
for a good explanation of this activity.
You would probably like Lois’s blog too – she’s from Berwick Lodge PS and is very knowledgeable regarding Web 2.0 tools.

You’ve made a great start Nina. Jenny would be a great mentor. Maybe we’ll meet you at the next Blogger’s Feast! I owe my introduction to Web 2.0 to my colleague and web guru, Sue Tapp – see http://www.andanotherthing-sue.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the support. I’m just coming to terms with what I’ve been misssing out on. My blog will really get started when I get back to school. I’ve asked some other inspiring educators to contribute to the blog so there will be lots of variety on many different topics not just Early Years.

Jenny Luca has been fantastic. We’ve been talking about her journey into blogging and it was hard not to be inspired and get involved. Jenny is a very motivated and driven teacher. Its about the kids, their learning journey and that’s what I relate to! Its my core business. Cheers Nina and thanks for the comment!

Nina,
What a beautiful view! I can relate to the dead grass in the foreground but that’s about all. I am in central Victoria, near Shepparton.
Congratulations on a great start to a teacher blog, something I’ve not yet got around to. But I will! For now, blogging with my grade 5/6s takes precedence.
I enjoyed your first post and will visit again later. Cheers,
Linda

My blog is a great focus and I’m actually really motivated to get back to school – ‘meh’, I actually said that! Can’t wait to see where this takes me and I love reading everyone elses blogs. Great PD! Thanks once again. Cheers Nina